Stone walls, stone lines, and supposed Indian graves

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Stone walls, stone lines, and supposed Indian graves

BULLETIN
OF THE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
OF CONNECTICUT
NUlMBEH 60
1987
Edited
by ROGER W. MOELLER
CONTENTS
Changing paleoecological relationships during the Late Pleistocene and
Holocene in New England
JOHNSON PARKER •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••.•.••••••••••••••••.••••••.•.••••
1
Stone walls, stone lines, and supposed Indian graves
ROGER W. MOELLER •••••••.••••••••..••••••.•••••••••..••••••..•••••••••••••.•••••••
17
The prehistoric ceramics of Southwestern Connecticut: An overview
and reevaluation
ERNEST A. WIEGAND 11. •••••••..•••••••••••.•••••••••••••••..•••••.••••••••.•••••••
23
The Woodruff Rock Shelter site -- 6LF126: An interim report -Faunal analysis as a means to evaluate environment and culture
EDMUND K. SWIGART ••.•.•••..••••.••••••••.•••••.••••••••.•••.••.•••••••.•••••••.••
43
THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT,
P.O. BOX 386, BETHLEHEM,
Cover Photo: Prehistoric ceramic sites in Southwestern
section of New York
Connecticut
ISSN
CT
06751
and adjacent
0739-6612
CHANGING
PALEOECOLOGICAL
RELATIONSHIPS
DURINGTHE
LATE PLEISTOCENE
ANDHOLOCENE
IN NEWENGLAND
JOHNSONPARKER
U. S. FOREST SERVICE, RETIRED
ABSTRACT
This review briefly describes the glacial conditions, plants, animals, and
the interrelationships among them and humans during the following times: (1) at
40,000 B.P. when the ice sheet extended a little south of the U.S. - Canadian
border, (2) from 18,000 B.P. when the ice sheet reached its maximumextent to
14,000 B.P. when the great melt-out began, (3) from 14,000- 9000 B.P. when the
spruce-pine forest invaded, humans arrived, and many large mammals became
extinct, (4) from 9000 - 3000 B.P. when relatively warm and dry conditions prevailed and large populations of broad-leaved deciduous trees arrived, and (5)
from 3000 B.P. to the present when the climate was cooler and moister and when
Europeans arrived to disrupt the ancient relationships between Native Americans
and the environment.
INTRODUCTION
Profound biotic changes occurred in New England during and just after the
final melting of the last substage of the Wisconsinan glaciation. The questions
of why such changes came about and how they affected Native Americans are not
easily answered, but remain fascinating in any case. We have started with
40,000 B.P. not because it was a time of the deepest "winter" and the farthest
ice advance of the Wisconsinan glaciation, but because it was a time when the
glacier was in about a median stage of its extent during the late Pleistocene
and a time that is thought to be previous to the advent of humans in New
England.
40,000 B.P.
If for a moment we could transport
ourselves back to 40,000 B.P. in New
England, we would probably have found (1) no people, (2) no glacier, except in
the northwestern part of Vermont and some of Maine, and (3) a very unfamiliar
plant and animal population.
Considering the first of these observations, no evidence now exists for
human occupation at that time in New England. Whether the glacier destroyed
such evidence or whether we have not yet dug deep enough in certain deposits are
at least possibilities to consider. There is, however, evidence of something
resembling hearths together with some dubious artifacts that date as old as
35,000 B.P. (L-299D) and even 38,000 B.P. (UCLA-HO)in southwestern North
America (Haynes 1967). But Haynes had strong reservations about these sites
being actually caused by humans. Waters (1985) agreed with these reservations
and concluded that the Clovis culture is still the oldest unequivocal evidence
for man in the Americas south of the ice sheets. The earliest Paleo-Indian
sites in northeastern North America have been dated between 11,000and 10,000
1
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY
OF CONNECTICUT,
BULLETIN
50
B.P. (Grimes et a1 1984). On the other hand, it may be significant that recent
finds reported in the public press give dates of 32,000 B.P. for a site in
Brazil, and 33,000 B.P. for one in Chile (Wilford 1986).
On the second point, the continental ice sheet, although extending over a
vast area of Canada, left a large portion of North America ice-free during the
entire 64,000 or so years of the Wisconsin glaciation. If we had lived in New
England about 40,000B.P. we would probably have thought of the ice-front as no
less static than the one today in Greenland.
As for the third observation, the vegetation in New England consisted
mainly of a cool-climateforest made up of spruce (Picea) and lesser amounts of
pine (Pinus), evidently largely jack pine (Pinus banksiana Lamb.) (Delcourt and
Delcourt 1981). Jack pine today is almost exclusively Canadian, extending north
to approach Hudson Bay, east to Nova Scotia, and west to the Rockies (Little
1971). Spruce (at least Picea mariana Mill., B.S.P.) covers much the same
region, but extends into Alaska at one end and into New England at the other.
Jack pine can occupy drier sites than spruce while spruce commonlyoccurs along
the edges of bogs and lakes, as well as in a transition region between open
muskeg and gentle slopes of more upland areas (Larsen 1980). The soils must
have been underlain with frozen ground or permafrost. In fact evidence for
permafrost in ground south of the ice sheet during the last glacial epoch is now
known (Pewe 1973). One is tempted to judge from present day Canada what
conditions were like in those days, but such comparisons have been questioned
(e.g., Ritchie 1977).
The spruce-pine forest was sometimes broken up by tundra-like areas,
presenting a mosaic of forest, open woody scrub, and herbs called "woodland"
(intermediate between tundra and forest) (R. Davis and Jacobson 1985). In a
different view, although Larsen (1980:1)used "taiga" to mean the boreal forest
consisting of spruce, larch, fir, pine, and other less important tree species,
he emphasized the lack of a static, geographically homogeneousflora within it.
Instead he pointed out the importance of a "continuum" in which communitiesare
arrayed along various "ecoclines", that is, changing the number of individuals
of each species from one kind of habitat to another.
True tundra (treeless by physiographic definition) occurred mainly near the
mass of ice which was then encroaching on the present U.S. - Canadian border.
Lake Erie and another lake of similar size in the St. Lawrence River Valley
drained south into the Hudson River to the Atlantic Ocean. Land extended eastward from NewEngland to a line roughly going from NovaScotia to George's Bank
off Cape Cod (Delcourt and Delcourt 1981).
The tundra, forest, and open areas within the forest, provided fodder for
an extraordinary variety of large mammalianherbivores. These included various
Artiodactyla (with even-toed feet), Perissodactyla (with odd-toed feet) (Savage
and Russell 1983:382), at least six genera of Proboscidea (elephant-like
animals) (Dragoo 1979), and many others such as certain Edentata (e.g., sloths)
(Kurten and Anderson 1980:128).
Although not necessarily a model for Pleistocene times, many of the present
day Canadian spruce forests are associated with ground-living mosses and
lichens. These lowly plants commonlyform a ground cover that is not only
important to the life-cycle of the spruce itself (Larsen 1980:212),but serve as
food for grazing mammals.Notmuch has been knownabout the food of the mammoth
and mastodon other than some sketchy observations of remains in China and
Siberia. Recent analyses of mammothdung from a cave in western U.S. revealed
the presence of grasses, sedges, and some woody plants (Mead et a1 1986).
Mammothteeth, like those of present day elephants, were well adapted to
grinding such things as grasses and leaves of willow, alder, and the like,
whereas the jagged teeth of the mastodon were adapted to coarser fare, such as
spruce branches and leaves.
CHANGING
PALEOECOLOGICAL
RELATIONSmpS 3
Other large herbivores must also have been important. Among the
Artiodactyla were the Antilocapridae or pronghorns and the Cervidae including
the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and the caribou (Rangifer),
both
of which still exist today. Another important ungulate was the giant deer or
stag-moose (Cervalces) that became extinct shortly after the end of the
Pleistocene. Of the Bovidae, two species of bison, now extinct, lived in those
days: Bison antiquus and B. occidentaIis. Bootherium was a woodland musk ox
associated with spruce and pine, also now extinct. Another woodland musk ox,
Symbos, was associated with spruce and fir and survived briefly into
post-glacial times. Still another musk ox, Ovibos, survives to the present,
perhaps because it could escape human hunters by ranging further north than the
humans. Euceratotherium was a bovid shrub ox associated with B. antiquus.
Besides Euceratotherium, another shrub ox was Preptoceras (Martin and Guilday
1967:59).
The cervids are in general browsers, as foresters so well know today from
the depredations of deer on young trees; the bovids are largely grazers,
although there are notable exceptions in both groups. The woodland caribou
(Rangifer
caribou) of today feeds in summer on plants like those eaten by the
moose: herbs, aquatics like lily pads and their roots, and some browse. In
winter they dig through the snow for mosses, lichens, and grasses and if the
snow is very deep, eat the hanging lichen Usnes. The barren-ground caribou (R.
arcticus) of today feeds largely on lichens and grasses the year round (Hamilton
1939:139). In winter, however, it depends on grasses, true mosses, crowberry,
and bearberry; in spring it browses on willow and birch; and in summer on
various plants including mushrooms. Ovibos feeds mostly through the snow on
grasses, mosses, lichens, and willow (Hamilton 1939:157).
Amongthe Edentata, sloths had existed in North America since the Pliocene
and had spread far north from their South American origins, feeding on tree
leaves and the like. One species of MegaIonyx is known from beds in Indiana and
is thought to have measured 3.5m from head to tail-tip.
Another one,
Paramylodon, whose bones were found in Kentucky as well as California, grew to a
size of about 2.5m in length (Martin and Guilday 1967).
The Perissodactyla also made up an important part of the ungulates or
hooved animals. Judging by the fossils, Equus was commonin the steppes of
North America and certain species may have lived in woodland situations as the
tarpan does today in Polish forest preserves. Although seven species of Equus
occurred in the Pleistocene (Savage and Russell 1983), all became extinct by
8000B.P. Species of Tapirus and two genera of peccaries were also numerous.
Amongthe Rodentia, the giant beaver and two genera of capybara might be
mentioned as important and, unlike others of their kind, were adapted to a cold
climate (Martin and Guilday 1967).
Most fossils of Carnivora have been found outside New England so that we
can usually only guess that they also occurred there. What is known indicates
that the Carnivora were sometimesspecialized predators. One of the saber-tooth
cats, Smilodon fatalis, preyed on large, slow-footed animals, perhaps sloths,
although there was a case of a wolf's skull found with a saber still stuck
through it (Savage and Russell 1983). Another smaller saber-tooth cat preyed on
young proboscids (Martin and Guilday 1967). Species of Felis, Lynx, and Leo may
also have occurred in NewEngland. The larger cats and bears were probably at
the top of the predator hierarchy. Twogenera of bears, Arctodus and Tremarctos
lived throughout the Wisconsinanepoch.
Several writers have tried to sort out this mammalianarray into geographical regions. Recently L. Martin et al (1985) have proposed a number of faunal
provinces for North America in the late Wisconsinan epoch for the time after
25,000 B.P. One that concerns us here is the Ovibos faunal province with R.
tarandus (caribou) and Dicrostonyx (a lemming)as commonspecies. This repre-
4
AROHAEOLOGICAL SOOIETY OF CONNECTICUT, BULLETIN
50
sents the more northern of the two northeastern faunal provinces and bordered on
the ice sheet to the north. It also includes mammoth(Mammuthusapp.), wolf,
fox, and bear. The second province is that of Symbos-Oervalces and includes
Sangamona (fugitive deer), Oastoroides Ohioensis (giant beaver), and Microtus
xanthognathus (vole). Other genera in this second province also include Mammut
(mastodon), Megalonyx (sloth), Martes
(martin), Arctodus
(bear), Tapirus
(tapir), Equus (horse), P1atygonus (peccary), and Bootherium (musk ox). Species
of Mammuthus are relatively rare in this second group as compared to the first.
Although there is much overlap, the second province is more southern, but still
within the range of the taiga which then extended to the present North Carolina
northern border.
Widespread crops of conifer seed along with those of grasses and other
small plants should have provided at least a seasonal food supply for armies of
birds and rodents. The population cycles of rodents, like mice and lemmings,
have long been the wonder of naturalists. The rodents and birds in turn sustained a number of carnivores, especially species of Canis: dog, dire wolf,
wolf, fox, and coyote. Wolvesand dogs, of course, can attack larger prey upon
occasion. Many other smaller mammalsas well as reptiles, birds, molluscs, and
insects have been studied for these times.
18,000 to 14,000 B.P.
Around 18,000B.P. the ice sheet of the late Wisconsinreached its farthest
advance in New England. Somewhatolder dates of 18,900 and 19,450 B.P. are
given for this by Denton et al (1986). Whichever is correct, temperatures were
universally lower than today about this time and the unglaciated land surface of
the earth was generally drier than that of today (Peterson et a1 1979). The ice
had advanced south of present day Long Island as much as 100kmout over land of
the continental shelf and over land that stretched northeast as much as 300km
from present day Cape Cod and the offshore banks (Edwards and Merrill 1977).
The sea was then 123m below is present level (Whitmore1967). Oldale (1986),
however, gives 100mand maybe half that for glacial times.
The glacier began to recede only a few millennia after 18,000 B.P. as the
climate warmed. We are generally agreed that it did warm; what caused the
warming remains a mystery -- but not for lack of effort to solve it. Recent
theories include volcanic activity affecting atmospheric C02 levels (Porter
1986), eccentricities in the earth's orbit together with certain other factors
including variations in atmospheric COalevels (Schneider and Thompson 1979,
Denton et al 1986), interstellar gas (hydrogen and helium) passing through our
solar system to affect ultraviolet radiation (Paresce and Bowyer 1986), and
solar cycles of radiant energy causing cyclical glacial melting as recorded in
varved deposits (Williams1986).
Carbon dates obtained from glacial drift bordering on soil deposits in the
Great Lakes region indicate that marked ice recession occurred about 14,000B.P.
in Ohio and about 12,000 B.P. in Ontario (Imbrie and Imbrie 1986, citing
Goldthwaite et a1). Oxygen isotope measurements made from foraminiferan
deposits in the deep sea purporting to measure temperature, have yielded several
different ages for the start of the last melting of the ice sheet. By one such
chronology, a massive volumetric recession began about 14,000B.P. (Denton et a1
1986citing Mixand Ruddiman).
In spite of the melting of the ice sheet in southern New England, great
blocks of ice, sometimes covered by glacial debris remained for centuries and
even millennia in valleys, lakes, swamps, and ponds. Lingering ice in valleys
frequently dammedthe drainage so that flood waters carrying debris were forced
to flow on either side of the ice and create terraces. There is hardly a physi-
CHANGING
PALEOECOLOGICAL
RELATIONSHIPS5
ographic formation in New England that does not have some relation to the
effects of the last glacier: rounded hillocks, drumlins, moraines, glacial till,
rock-strewn fields, (ice) crevasse fillings, kames, eskers, alluvial fans,
kettle holes, and huge erratics (Flint 1930). New alluvium has been added to
outwash plains since the glacial times, even in the present century, as shown by
Russell Handsmanof the American Indian Archaeological Institute.
Cores from bogs and lake-bottoms have yielded evidence that by 14,000B.P.
southern New England was ice-free while the glacier still extended into central
Vermont,NewHampshire,and most of Maine(R. Davis and Jacobson 1985). A vegetation map of eastern North America (Delcourt and Delcourt 1981) for 14,000 B.P.
shows that much of Connecticut, eastern Massachusetts, and land to the north and
northeast of Cape Cod was in tundra; to the south, mostly over land now submerged, the principal land cover was spruce. This was based largely upon M.
Davis's (1969) study at Rogers Lake near Old Lyme, Connecticut, where the main
vegetation was herbs, shrubs, and small amounts of spruce and pine, together
with lesser amounts of oak (Quercus) and ash (Fraxinus).
More recent studies
show that poplar woodland had invaded north over much of the eastern part of
Massachusetts and a bit of southern NewHampshire,while tundra covered most of
central and western parts of Massachusetts, most of NewHampshire,and more than
half of Vermont (R. Davis and Jacobson 1985).
With southern New England clear of ice by 14,000B.P. and maybe even earlier, Paleo-Indians could have entered its tundra and boreal regions. In support of this idea are signs of human occupation in the form of charcoal deposits
at the Meadowcroft Rockshelter near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, just south of
where the Laurentide ice sheet had come. The charcoal in one sample near the
bottom of the dig dated to 21,380±800 years B.P., 19,430 B.C., (SI-2121)
(Adovasio et al 1985). In spite of criticism of the authenticity of this date,
Shutler (1985) strongly favored it and stated that it was high time to stop
ignoring such early evidence for man's presence. However, as mentioned before,
much later dates around 11,000- -10,000 B.P. are generally accepted for the
Paleo-Indian advent.
In the time from 18,OQO±-±14,000
B.P. the fauna outlined above for earlier
glacial times did not face serious deterioration.
Only 3000 years later did
many of the larger animals become extinct over much of North America (Martin
1967:95)•
14,000 B.P. to 9000 B.P.
The extensive tundra, poplar woodland, and mixed woodland (poplar mixed
with spruce and certain other tree species) soon gave way to new plant associations after 14,000 B.P. Some thirty years ago the time of 12,500 B.P. was considered to be about the start of the "Pre-Boreal" interval in northeastern U.S.
when spruce, fir, pine, and oak began to take over from the tundra.
Simultaneously the "Allerod Interstade" was beginning in northwestern Europe
(Deevey and Flint 1957). Since 1957 research on fossil pollen and macro-plant
material preserved in bogs and lakes, much of it pioneered by Deevey and his
students, has revealed a picture of different parts of New England undergoing
changes at different times.
At 12,000B.P. northern Maine was still covered by ice. According to Hare
(1976), a large island of it, separate from the continental glacier extended
from just south of the eastern end of the St. Lawrence waterway southwestward
toward northern Vermont. At this time central Maine, northern New Hampshire,
and most of Vermont were in tundra (R. Davis and Jacobson 1985). In western
Massachusetts there was a very high percentage of non-arboreal pollen (mostly
from herbs and shrubs),later giving way to an open boreal forest with spruce
-
6
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT, BULLETIN
50
predominant so that by 9600 B.P. this land had gone over to a closed boreal
forest (Whitehead 1979).
In southern Connecticut, M. Davis's (1976) graphs for 12,000 B.P. indicate
that spruce had not yet peaked. Instead, large amounts of Cyperaceae (sedges)
and lesser amounts of Gramineae(grasses), chenopods (goosefoots and pigweeds),
Artemisia (a genus of Compositae),mosses, Lycopodium,and ferns were represented, together with some small amounts of woody plants: spruce, pine, alder,
birch, and oak (M.Davis 1969). At 11,000B.P. spruce was predominant with pine
and birch in lesser amounts. By 10,000B.P. spruce was peaking and associated
with lesser amounts of pine and birch, and by 9000B.P. the land was being taken
over by pine, principally jack pine, which arrived around 9500 B.P. and peaked
just after 9000 (M.Davis 1976). Land also existed extending northeast from the
vicinity of Cape Cod where tundra and spruce-pine forest occurred, the sprucepine being nearer to the Atlantic Ocean (Edwards and Merrill 1977). White pine
(Pinus strobus L.) arrived from the south in the latitude of NewYork City about
10,000 B.P. (M. Davis 1976). Some tree species are thought to have possibly
survived in "refugia" along the shores of the ocean or on debris on top of the
ice. Most species migrated north as individual species, not as associations,
following the lowlands and valleys.
Estimates of the paleoclimate have been made from the kind of vegetation
that occurred at a certain time, but differences in rates of plant migration,
although very slow, make this difficult. One would expect that the light,
winged seeds of pine and spruce would blow readily in the wind to new locations
whereas the nut trees depend largely upon birds and mammalsor occasional water
transport for shorter dispersal distances. Actually, it has been shown that
birds and mammalsmove the heavy seeds farther on the average than the wind
blows the winged seeds (Webb1986). Certain herbs have light feathery attachments to the seeds that allow dispersal for hundreds of miles. The early invasion of poplar into New England may have occurred because of the light, fluffy
seed attachments.
Furthermore, some species are better adapted than others to establishing
themselves on rugged sands, gravels, and clays left by the glacier. For
example,black spruce is adept at seeding into burned areas from cones that survive on fire-killed trees (Larsen 1980:331). For further on these migrations
see Bernabo and Webb(1977)and Wright (1976).
In spite of the difficulties of estimating climate from plant associations
or single species, spruce should be a good indicator of a cool, moist
paleo-climate. Its resistance to harsh, cool conditions must have depended on
an array of adaptations: branch layering (a commonway of reproduction); mechanical resistance of leaves, stems, and branches; shallow rooting on poorly aerated soils; root grafting to form mats of many individual trees; resistance to
winter drying and low temperature; quick recovery of photosynthesis in brief
warm periods; and ability to set seed in a short growing season.
The first evidence for mankind's arrival into this predominately coniferous
forest and woodland dates from about 11,000--10,000 B.P. (Grimes et al 1984).
One in Connecticut dates to 10,190±300years B.P., 8240 B.C., (W-3931)(Moeller
1980). A date from the Bull Brook II site in eastern Massachusetts where fluted
points were found is 8565±284years B.p.,"e corrected, (GX-6279)(Grimes et a1
1984). This date is now thought to be too young and older dates have been
obtained from other northeastern sites within the ca 10,000- 11,000 B.P.
range.
Manyof us have accepted the idea that Paleo-Indians were predominately big
game hunters. However,new excavation techniques which recover such things as
seeds, suggest that they were hunter-gatherers of all kinds of plant and animal
food along the waters where they camped (Moeller1984). There is now no doubt
that they hunted caribou; evidence for this has been found from Michigan to
CHANGING
PALEOECOLOGICAL
RELATIONSHIPS7
Massachusetts (Funk 1984). Funk concluded that the caribou was a basic source
of protein for the Paleo-Indians although general gathering supplemented their
diet.
The question of whether or not the Paleo-Indians brought about the megafaunal extinction around 11,000B.P. has been debated for at least 30 years. If
fire had been used to drive game as is indicated by finds of Paleolithic man's
activities in Europe, the Paleo-Indians could also have used fire and affected
the vegetation. But in the Northeast, we have no proof of this in the form of
charcoal deposits over broad areas (Moeller 1980). Also Guilday (1967) pointed
out that fire could even have benefitted certain kinds of vegetation which then
seeded in, or like the poplar and grasses, could spring up from roots.
Martin (1967:76)has long favored the idea of a wave of megafaunal extinctions brought about by human hunters. In central Africa pygmies, wielding only
spears, are able to wound an adult elephant, then follow it until it dies. But
the elephant population there is declining as a result of several other things:
drought, loss of range to cattle farming, and modern firearms.
Martin
(1967:95,chart)concluded that the main wave of extinction of Mammut,MammuthuB,
Paramylodon, and Equus cf complicatus did not occur until 11,000 B.P. and the
mastodon may have lived a little later. In fact enclaves of relict animals may
have survived into mid-Holocenetimes, but proof of this is lacking. Martin
also pointed out that the Clovis fluted point hunters pursued the mammothfor a
short time in western North America before they were replaced after 11,000B.P.
by Folsompoint hunters who killed bison (Martin 1967:97). The principal megafauna apparently survived no later than 10,000 B.P. and maybe no later than
10,800 B.P. (Meltzer and Mead 1985). These dates barely overlap the recorded
arrival of humans in northeastern North America. If we accept the Meadowcroft
Rockshelter dates of around 21,000 B.P. as those of occupation sites, then the
overlap is considerable. Recently in a swamp in Genesee County, northwestern
New York, bones of mastodon, wapiti (American elk), and white-tailed deer, as
well as those of passenger pigeon, caribou, elk, raven, and condor dated to
10,450±400years B.P.,8500 B.C., (no lab number given) have been found.
Cultural remains included a Clovis point and a blfacial flint knife or scraper;
the point found with elk bones, the scraper 20cm above the mastodon bones
(Steadman et a1 1986).
Other possibilities for the cause of extinction in which as many as 32
genera of large mammalsdisappeared in a remarkably short time (Meltzerand Mead
1985) include disease and habitat deterioration. In both animals and plants,
disease can follow severe stress brought on by drought, cold, heat, inadequate
minerals or certain other shortcomings of the ecosystem. Cyclic changes (from 1
to 10 or so years) in mammalianpopulations in our own time are an established
concept and go on in the best of times. Climaticchanges could also have had an
ill-effect on animal mating habits and thus on reproduction (Slaughter 1967).
Great dust storms were at one time thought to have caused the extinctions
(Hamilton1939:25). This is not at all a ridiculous notion when we consider the
vast loess deposits in Europe and Asia associated with the melting of continental glaciers. Much of New England's loess blew off to sea. However,a loess
deposit is known that rests Q!! top of a Paleo-Indian site in the Upper Delaware
River Valley (Dent 1986). High summer temperatures could also have been a
problem for such animals as the woolly mammothand the musk ox. The latter can
suffer severely from temperatures over 500F (Bergman 1986).
A widespread die-out of grasses and other tender annuals could have prevented the mammothfrom storing enough fat to survive the winter. In favor of
the changing habitat theory, two genera of proboscidians became extinct toward
the end of the lower Pleistocene and as many as nine genera died out at the
Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary (Dragoo 1979), long before mankind was on the
scene. Martin (1967:81)tells of other such extinctions before the Wisconsin.
8
AROHAEOLOGICAL SOOIETY OF OONNEOTICUT; BULLETIN
50
We can reasonably assume that the boreal forest invasion into most of New
England between 11,000 and 10,000 B.P. (R. Davis and Jacobson 1984) seriously
reduced the kind of food palatable to certain of the large herbivores. But why
could not these animals have simply migrated farther north ahead of the
encroaching forest?; a question asked 40 years ago by Hibben (Martin 1967:87).
In the final analysis it seems to me that the Paleo-Indians brought those
animals to extinction that were easily hunted when they were already under
stress from a diminished food supply. With increased competition from more
adaptable animals and no inherited fear of mankind, they fell easy prey to
Paleo-Indian hunters who worked in groups and either drove them into swampsand
traps or so wounded them with spears that they died later.
Great numbers of mastodon and mammothbones have been found by fisherman
over the years off the East Coast extending from Cape Hatteras to a little
beyond Cape Cod (Whitmore1967). Teeth and other bones have been recovered from
at least 40 sites on the continental shelf. Mastodon remains are more common
than those of mammothand both range in chronology from 11,465to 8130 B.P. with
the oldest found on George's Bank off Cape Cod, the youngest south toward
Delaware. Several mammothspecies occurred; one northern, one southern, and one
apparently intermediate. Remains of horse, tapir, musk ox, and "giant moose"
have been found, sometimesat depths of up to 120m(Whitmore1967).
Around 10,000 B.P. the continental glacier in eastern North America had
shrunken enough to leave the Great Lakes much as they are today, although
another lake about the size of Lake Erie still survived in the St. Lawrence
Valley, draining to the northeast instead of down the Hudson River. Tundra at
this time was largely limited to the region along the ice front in Canada, with
the exception of a large patch of it in Central Maine (Delcourt and Delcourt
1981).
According to R. Davis and Jacobson (1985), northern Maine was in mixed
woodland at 10,000 B.P. with a few patches of it in the mountains of Maine and
NewHampshire, while a forest of paper birch, poplar, jack pine, red pine (Pinus
resinosa Ait.) and fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) existed most everywhere else
in New England. At Moulton Pond, Maine, there was a marked change at about
10,500 B.P. when jack pine gave way to white pine, the latter reaching a peak
about 9200 B.P. Meanwhileat this site Apruce declined to very low levels at
10,500 B.P. and arboreal birch replaced dwarf birch (R. Davis et a1 1975). At
Rogers Lake, Connecticut, spruce and pine were still predominant at 10,000 B.P.
with lesser amounts of alder (Alnus), small birch (Betula), poplar (Populus),
oak (Quercus), and ash (Fraxinus); fir and larch (Larix) occurred in smaller
amounts as well (M. Davis 1976). Hemlock (Tsuga) did not arrive in substantial
quantity at Rogers Lake for another 1000 years. Beech (Fagus) reached a peak
about 4500 B.P. having been present in much earlier times. Following 4000 B.P.
hickory increased markedly. Oak was present in small amounts at Moulton Pond
from as early as 13,900 B.P. and intermittently thereafter until 10,500 B.P.
when it gradually increased to about 5500 B.P., declined to nearly nothing at
2500 B.P. and slowly rose again to the present (R. Davis et al 1975).
About 10,000 B.P. a conifer-hardwood forest (the hardwoods being broadleaved deciduous trees) gained a firm foothold in BOuthwestern New England.
This association had been confined at 14,000 B.P. to the latitude of central
South Carolina in a band extending west nearly to the Mississippi River. The
birches that arrived in this group were probably white birch (BetUla papyrifera
Marsh.) and gray birch (B. populifolia Marsh.), and somewhat later, yellow birch
(B. lutea Marsh.) (Delcourt and Delcourt 1981; R. Davis and Jacobson 1985).
CHANGING
PALEOECOLOGICAL
RELATIONSHIPS9
9000 to 3000 B.P.
Around 9000 B.P. a number of remarkable events occurred in southern New
England. One of these was the rapid decline of spruce and of the smaller populations of fir and larch, while hemlock and oak increased dramatically. Red
maple (Acer rubrum L.), sugar maple (A. saccharum Marsh.) and chestnut (Castanea
dentata Borkh) also made an appearance about this time (M. Davis 1976). From
9000 B.P. on, oak dominated the pollen percentages at Rogers Lake up nearly to
the present (M.Davis 1969). Further north at MoultonPond, Maine, however, oak
percentages rose from 10,000B.P. until 8000 B.P. then declined until about 3000
B.P. (R. Davis et al 1975).
9000 B.P. was also the time of the beginning of the Hypsithermal interval,
marked by increased warmth (Deeveyand Flint 1957);it was also the beginning of
the Archaic period in Connecticut marked by a change from fluted to bifurcate
and certain other kinds of points (Lavin 1984). An earlier date of ca 10,000
B.P. is given by Dincauze and Mulholland (1977)for the beginning of the Archaic
and a warm, dry period may have begun at 10,200 (Denton et al 1986). Not much
is actually known about the Early Archaic in New England (Lavin 1984) and the
points from that period are usually only surface finds (Moeller 1984). Although
the Hypsithermal was mostly warm and dry, small glacial advances in the world's
ice sheets occurred at 7300, 6300, 5600, 4800, 4500, and 3200 B.P. (Denton et al
1986). These times can be compared to sea level declines given by Fairbridge
(Vargo and Vargo 1986). His data show that a decline in sea level occurred
about 6400,a large one about 4400 and a double dip around 3000 B.P., recovering
shortly afterward to near present-day levels. Recent research reviewed by
Searle and Woods (1986) indicates much smaller fluctuations in world sea levels
than those shown by Fairbridge.
A gradual decline of white pine from 8000 - 7000 B.P. at Rogers Lake
indicates a warmer and drier forest environment. This climatic change is also
evident in the expansion of the prairie eastward between 9500 and 7000 B.P.
(Bernabo and Webb 1977). Rising sea levels, shown in Fairbridge's data from
about 7400 B.P. with a few minor dips to about 5600 B.P. when it comes nearly to
present-day levels, is an indication of a continued warm interval. However, sea
levels have risen about 3m in the past 3500 years, rising at .85mmper year
(McWeeney1986citing Bloom). The filling of Long Island Sound and the change
in the southern New England coast line can be compared with the northward
progress of oak on maps by Dincauze and Mulholland (1977) for the time from
9000- -6000 B.P. (Early and Middle Archaic periods).
Forest composition can be altered not only by climate, but by the depredations of animals like deer and rodents. As we know from recent times, insects
can be even more devastating. The gradual decline in hemlockfrom about 9000to
the present could have been the result of insect depredation. But a more likely
possibility in my opinion is that hemlock's sensitivity to drought could have
reduced its numbers and curtailed reproduction.
The reason why spruce declined several thousand years ago might be found in
its present predicament in Mainewherein the spruce budwormis causing extensive
damage. The budworm is known to thrive in consecutive years of warm, dry
periods in summer (Baker 1972:259). This has been recently occurring in Maine
and could have occurred centuries ago in more southern locations as the climate
warmed. In this connection it is known that the gypsy moth, the caterpillar of
which causes enormous defoliation, is limited to southern NewEngland because of
the sensitivity of the over-wintering eggs to cold.
Howmuch the Native Americans altered the environment can only be speculated on. It is known that Mesolithic man in Europe practiced burning and may
have done it to encourage the hazel (Oorylus) for its nuts. Although the religion and culture of Native Americans inclined them to protect the environment,
10
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT, BULLETIN
50
there is evidence that they did occasionally use fire to clear the forest shrubbery (e.g., DeForest 1851:2) perhaps for hunting purposes or better visibility
in detecting intruders.
Not a great deal is known about the animals from 9000 - 3000 B.P. since
bones survive only poorly in New England's acidic soils except in shell heaps
with high pH or bogs with low oxygen levels. Around 9000 B.P. the forests of
southern New England supported animals such as white-tailed deer, turkey, and
mqose, as well as predators like lynx, fox, and wolverine (Fagan 1978). Even as
late as the 18th century A.D. elk, black bear, mountain lion, wild cat, timber
wolf, fisher, otter, beaver, wild turkey, and passenger pigeon could have been
found in the hills of western Pennsylvania (Adovasio et al 1985).
The broad-leaved deciduous forest that followedthe boreal forest somewhere
between 10,000and 9000 B.P. in southern NewEngland should have had a greater
carrying capacity both for these animals and for mankind (Ritchie and Funk
1971). Between 8000 and 6000 B.P. (MiddleArchaic) well-established communities
of hunter-gatherers occurred in New England and their activities anticipated
subsistence patterns that followed in the Late Archaic (Dincauze and Mulholland
1977). Around 6000 B.P. at the beginning of the Late Archaic there was an
increased gathering activity, the use of food storage, and increased trade
(Pfeiffer 1984).
The arrival in large numbers of broad-leaved forest trees not only provided
food in the form of nuts, and sometimeslodging for many kinds of animals, but
gave humans better materials for their daily living. For example, white birch
bark was used in canoes, containers, and hut roofs; elm, tulip poplar, and basswood bark were also commonlyused for hut roofs; oak, hickory, and ash woodwere
popular for tool handles; basswood inner bark was made into cordage and hickory
wood strips into binding material; split black ash wood was used in basketry,
and oak bark and wood for tanning; the sap of maples and birches was used to
sweeten food; and there was much more probably lost in the past (A. C. Parker
1954; J. Kalin, American Indian Archaeological Institute).
With the marked recession of the ice sheet, which had exerted its own
effect in lowering temperetures (largely by means of reflection of solar
energy), warmer times followed 8000 B.P. as we have seen. At this time the ice
had retreated well north into Canada (Hare 1976). By 6500 and into 3500 B.P.
drier times are indicated by lower lake levels in the Midwest when precipitation
was lower than that of today. This time (about that of the Late and Terminal
Archaic) corresponds well to a warm interval when oak savannah as well as charcoal deposits increased. After 3500 B.P. a closed oak forest became general and
charcoal deposits decreased, suggesting cooler, wetter weather (Winkler et al
1986).
Assuming the Terminal Archaic ended and the Woodlandperiod began about
2700 B.P. (Pfeiffer 1984) in southern New England, then this is nearly the time
of the end of the Hypsithermal outlined by Deevey and Flint some 30 years ago.
3000 B.P. to Present
The last 3000 years have been marked by several small advances in the
world's remaining ice sheets. These were separated by warm periods, estimated
from altitudinal rises in Scandanavian mountain tree-lines, where trees give way
to smaller plants. One glacial advance, as measured in Scandanavia, occurred
from 2600 - 2000 B.P., another small one about 1400- 1200 B.P., and one around
800 B.P. lasting to about a century ago (Denton et a1 1986). World glaciers
have generally retreated during the present century.
Forest composition from 3000 B.P. to the present in New England shows
little real change although some botanists make a case for certain changes in
CHANGING
PALEOECOLOGICAL
RELATIONSHIPS
11
individual species.
After the Contact period, the loss of chestnut was one of
the big changes that forms an exception. Some increase in spruce can be seen in
the diagrams from Moulton Pond, Maine from 3000 B.P. to the present, something
that is much more clearly shown at a site in northern Minnesota indicating a
cooler and moister climate in this same period of time (Wright 1976).
As far as the animal population is concerned, there is no particular reason
to suppose that it changed much in composition from 3000 until Contact times
when some catastrophic changes came about.
By Mid-Woodland times the Late Archaic subsistence
pattern of seasonal
exploitation of diffuse resources continued in spite of the introduction of the
clay pot, celt, bow and arrow, and primitive horticulture
(Lavin 1984). With
settlements mostly on riverine, lacustrine, and other wetland locations, Native
Americans could survive on a variety of foods and still hunt game and gather
nuts in the uplands.
There was still shellfish in summer, processing of fruits,
seeds, and greens in late summer-autumn, and hunting deer, small mammals, reptiles, and birds in various seasons (Lavin 1984). During most of the Woodland
period, a settlement pattern of seasonal and temporal camps in the Connecticut
River Valley have been revealed by the cultural remains (Juli and McBride
1984). Late Woodland was largely a continuation
of the earlier Woodland,
although there were by then two distinct ceramic traditions
(Lavin 1984). As
before, nut collecting, fishing, shellfish collecting, and hunting went on in
late summer and early autumn (McBride and Bellantoni 1982). Shellfish, finfish
(sturgeon and shark among others), deer, crabs, and hickory shells have been
found related to a base camp for spring-fall and possibly year-round hunting and
gathering (Lavin 1984 citing Wiegand).
From the time of the Middle Archaic through the Late Woodland there was an
ever-increasing
size of sites of human settlement (Feder 1984 citing McBride and
Dewar). In another study Funk (1984) found that sites in the Paleo-Indian,
Early Archaic, and Middle Archaic periods are all weakly represented
in comparison to an apparent explosion in numbers of sites in the late Terminal Archaic.
In Early Woodland and into Middle Woodland there was a decline, followed by a
rise in late Middle Woodland. Funk concluded that these changes might represent
population
variations.
Not until the Late Woodland did maize appear in the New England record
(Juli and McBride 1984, citing Ritchie). Squash, however, was grown some 7000
years ago in Illinois (Conard et al 1984) and was thus probably known further
east soon afterwards.
The time when beans were introduced is uncertain, but
other less well-known plants were cultivated in New England before the arrival
of Europeans.
Such primitive gardening may have favored a population increase
in the Late Woodland.
With the massive arrival of Europeans in the time from about 350 - 150
years ago there was a sharp decline, not only in Native Americans, but in the
deer and turkey populations (perhaps also in those of raccoons and bears) that
used to account for much of the mast crop. Predators declined as well: bounties
were offered for wolves, the fur trade boomed, and habitats where wildlife
thrived were lost.
With the mast crop going begging and fewer predators
to
bother the nesting sites of many birds, the population of passenger
pigeons
exploded to reach an estimated three billion (evidently in the northeastern
United States) in about 100 years.
When the pigeon population collapsed, the
squirrel population reached equally unbelievable proportions (Neumann 1985).
Up to Contact times the fundamental economic/technologic/ecological
framework remained basically the same throughout prehistory, although various cultures underwent stylistic changes and technological improvements (Lavin 1984).
In contrast to present-day
North American societies, they maintained virtually a
perfect balance with nature and in spite of occasional intertribal
warfare, they
changed but little through the centuries.
12
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETYOF CONNECTICUT,BULLETIN
50
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STONEWALLS,STONELINES, ANDSUPPOSEDINDIANGRAVES
ROGERW. MOELLER
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SERVICES
ABSTRACT
An archaeological survey was recently conducted to determine the nature of
so-called "Indian graves" on the MacNaughtonproperty in the town of Granby,
Connecticut, because of concern that planned development of this parcel would
destroy important links to the heritage of the Indians who had inhabited
Connecticut before the Europeans arrived. After an extensive surficial survey
and a few arbitrarily placed test pits, the only logical conclusion is that they
are not remnants of prehistoric Indian graves, features, or structures.
They
are clearly the result of historic land clearing.
INTRODUCTION
Of the large number of Indian burials I have excavated and researched from
New England, the Northeast, and the MiddleAtlantic area, none are cairn (rockcovered) types. Cairn burials are known where burial is not possible in the
frozen ground. Placing large rocks on the body prevents dismembermentand desecration by scavenging animals. But the rocks used should not be so heavy that
they will crush the body. Because such stacking is being done under adverse
conditions when the ground is frozen, the rocks have to be accessible and easily
moved. That is not the case here. Because of the paucity of easily accessible
rocks, it would be just as difficult to get rocks out, of the frozen ground for
stacking as it would be to bury the person through the frostline.
The suggestion that the stones were someform of grave marker was made, but
that practice is not known for this area. Had there been a body under the
stones, some evidence (e.g., a stain, bone fragments, tooth enamel, or even
artifacts) should remain. Even given the acidic nature of New England soils,
one cannot place a body in the ground, cover it with stones, and leave it for
hundreds of years without there being someclues.
SITE SURVEY
During the site visit in November, 1985, the developer and I traversed the
entire property and investigated adjacent features to place the so-called graves
into a larger framework. The features considered especially important were
stone walls, lines of stones that can be mistaken for walls, piles of stones
definitely resulting from very recent land clearing, individual stones scattered
amongst the leaf clutter, and the "graves" themselves. While all stones and
arrangements of stones may look the same to the untrained eye, they are not.
Establishing a typology to clarify the differences and similarities among the
previously listed features was of prime importance. Within the context of all
of the stone features seen on this tract and the immediately adjacent tracts,
the "graves" are not unique.
The first stone "wall" we investigated was actually a line of stones which
17
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT,
BULLETIN
50
had been removed from a field to facilitate plowing. There was no stacking, no
attempt to make straight sides, and no attempt to followa boundary other than
plowable vs. non-plowable land. The open field side of the stone line had good
pasturage free of trees. The other side had intermittent trees, very large
rocks (probably too large to move by tractor), and surface water. Close by, but
perpendicular to the stone line, was a real stone wall with stacking and a clear
attempt to make a straight line. The rocks used in both had very similar physical characteristics, except that the wall did not have any stones which could
not be lifted by one man.
A nearby open field has stone piles and short lines containing boulders.
These stones are much larger than those seen in the stone walls or in other
stone lines, but the pattern is similar to the lines seen elsewhere: a single
huge stone has smaller ones piled around it at the periphery of the usable
portion of the field. Rather than have a single large pile, the smaller piles
are connected by lines of smaller stones.
THE "GRAVES"
Noting the physical similarities of the stones in all of the piles and
lines to those of the "graves" does not completelyanswer the question of their
omg'm,
The piles, lines, and "graves" have the same kinds of stones since they
all came from the same source. If these were actually put there by the Indians
to cover bodies or for other reasons, then one would suppose that there would be
evidence of this. The only way to address the question is to excavate one. And
the only way to know how the "grave" is different from what is normallyfound in
the ground is to dig holes where they aren't. The results were astoundingly
clear, but not surprising.
Before excavating, we walked over the western edge of the property within
sight of the "graves" noting the number of stones too large to move which were
not part of a pile, those of moveable size not in piles, the location of the
piles with regard to other topographic features, the general appearance of the
piles, and the relative surface area anq height of the piles. Although the leaf
clutter was very dense, we saw very few moveable stones larger than
volleyball-size which were not in piles. There were still a few unmoveable
stones lacking piles around them.
Topographically the "graves" in the western section of the property are
limited to an area between the boundary with an adjacent tract and the wetlands. There are no piles within the wetlands nor in the pasture of the adjacent tract.
Of eight piles, one was clearly unlike the others. The odd one was very
recently stacked judging from the mossy sides of one stone being in the wrong
place, dried dirt on the underneath side of a pair of stones resting on the top
of the pile, root hairs clinging to the top of a stone which had no earth around
it, and the absence of rotted leaves, forest duff, or weathering. The pile was
significantly higher than the others and consisted of some large, but many
smaller-sized stones. Why someonestacked this so very recently (within a year
judging by the absence of rotted leaves amongthe stones) is unknown.
This may have been in deliberate imitation of the other piles, or it is a
continuation of the same practice which resulted in the other piles. Because of
the barbed wire fence, wetlands, and dense tree cover bordering this pile, there
seemed to be no way for someoneto have used a wagon or cart to get the stones
onto the property. Whilethere is the possibility that the stones were picked
up on the property within an easy walk of the pile, we saw no reason why such a
quantity of these sized stones would be in anyone's way or where they could have
come from without someonesifting a lot of dirt to get them. There is no doubt
STONEWALLS,
LINES,"INDIAN
GRAVES" 19
that they are of the same types and sizes as found in the soil, but why they
should have been placed here is a mystery.
Several of the remaining stacks were examinedby removing the leaf clutter
to judge the sizes of the stones. Each had a main stone which was too large for
one person to lift. Some could not be lifted by two men, but probably could
have been dragged by a horse or tractor. All of the remaining stones which we
exposed probably could be lifted with little or moderate difficulty. Since
there are obviously large open areas lacking unmoveable stones and piles are
made around unmoveable ones, the conclusion is that the location of a pile is
determined by the presence of an unmoveable stone. This is an important
observation supporting land clearing, since graves would not be dug where one
cannot dig without hitting huge stones, and the only sensible place for rocks
cleared from the land is where one will not be plowing anyway.
The "graves" consist of stones piled within a rough circle approximately
seven feet in diameter to a height of less than two feet. The piles were originally at least twice that height judging from the soil surrounding those stones
at the bottom of the pile. The piles have sunk through the forest duff into the
gray sandy soil below, but not far into the yellow subsoil.
The first pile arbitrarily selected for excavation was the northernmost one
closest to the wetlands. The uppermost stone in the center of the pile was the
largest one moveableby a single manand weighed about 18 kg (40 lbs}, Withthe
exception of the stones at the very bottom of the pile, the ones underneath were
significantly smaller or between .5 and 4.5 kg (1 and 10 lbs), A hole 40 cm in
diameter was dug through the center of the pile until a stone too large to dig
around was encountered. The stack was centered upon an unmoveablestone. Other
rocks were placed upon rocks with forest duff, rotted leaves, recent acorn
shells, and other evidence of modern rodent activity clearly visible in the
spaces in the pile. Stones were still found throughout the dark A horizon soil
and into a yellow B horizon, but were smaller in size than those in the forest
duff zone.
The second pile was clearly higher than the first, but the pattern was
identical. In both piles was a single unmoveable stone with smaller ones
stacked adjacent to it. The excavation proceeded with the same results: stones
stacked on stones with forest duff filtering in between them, evidence of rodent
activity, and sinking of the pile into the soil. The soil zones were thicker in
this pile than in the first.
Immediatelyadjacent to each pile, we dug 20 cm diameter holes to compare
the normal soil structure to that seen under the piles. In both instances the
results were identical. The color, texture, and thickness of the test area
soils were identical to those seen in the piles. Therefore, the piles had been
madeon the unaltered ground surface.
The kinds of rocks in the piles were also considered. Each pile is composed of the same kinds of stones: the vast majority are a very coarse grained,
highly weathered field stone; there are a very few broken stones with quartz
inclusions; and a few water-polished stream cobbles. While a geologist or
petrologist would tear his/her hair out at these descriptions, a farmer or
person familiar with stones in the area would have no trouble seeing the physical
similarities.
Whilemost of the stones in the piles are of a size likely to be taken out
of a field to be plowed, there are also a lot of small ones (under .25 kg) that
no one would have thought necessary to remove. There was also the troublesome
water-polished cobbles which had not been seen in our walkover. The thought was
expressed that the piles may be containing items that had to be imported to be
discarded. This would have meant that there was a more serious functional
reason for someone to make the stacks, not just to clear the land. Importing
fist- and double fist-sized stones from even a half mile away means that there
20
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT, BULLETIN
50
was an ulterior motive for stacking; that a certain size was needed; that certain types of rocks were needed. The presence of all of the types and sizes of
stones had to be explained.
THETESTPITS
The test pits did explain the small stones, but not the water-polished
ones. Stones weighing up to .5 kg were found in the test pits in the gray and
the yellow soil zones. This fact added to the identical soil structure and
thickness of the layers beneath the stacks and adjacent to them means the piles
were placed directly on the surface of the ground. There was no preparation of
the spot, no burial, no reason to think anything was placed there first before
the stacking was done, and no reason to suggest that something had been removed
first. The stones excavated from the piles included not only those that were
brought from nearby for stacking, but also those that were already present in
the ground.
STONEPILESANDWALLS
I have excavated clearly identifiable human-remains more than 1000 years
old. Even under conditions of 'extremely adverse preservation, human remains
should still be recognizable for 500 years. The argument can be presented that
if there are now no bones, then they could have been placed there more than 500
years ago and have decayed without leaving a trace. To that I can say that
there should be no air spaces left amongst a 500 year-old pile of stones. Five
hundred years of rotting leaves, frost heaves, rising ground water from the wetlands, animal droppings, growing trees, spreading roots, and all of the other
forces of nature should have filled all of those air spaces with soil. A five
hundred year-old pile of rocks in the woods should be a very compacted mass.
For a good analogy look at bases of 150 year-old, untended stone walls and see
howmuchthey have settled into the ground and howcompactedand overgrown they
are. Since these piles in Granby do not even appear as compacted and overgrown
as 150 year-old stone walls, I am contending that they are recent.
To take a slightly different tack to answer the argument that piles of
stones in the woods are sheltered from a lot of airborne sediment, that rotting
may have been virtually complete, and that rodent activity among the stones
could have removed the soil to make this appear to have been present for a
shorter period of time, I will counter with another analogy. Assuming these
stacks have been here for hundreds of years before the Europeans, then why
aren't there old trees growing through them? Someof the stacks appear to have
been at the base of trees, but the trees are no more than 40 years old and no
older than other trees in this section. This was obviously maintained as a
cleared plot for a long time. The consistent age of the trees is an argument in
favor of land clearing for pasturage or agriculture.
If the stone piles had
been there for centuries before the land clearing and the clearing took place
carefully enough that the arrangement of the stones was not disturbed, then
there should have been evidence of tree growth disrupting the stacks or
intruding into the soil horizons beneath the stacks. There is no evidence of
such disturbance.
DIRTPILESANDANOTHER
STONEPILE
While leaving the area of the "graves" via the dirt access road to the
STONE WALLS, LINES,
"INDIAN GRAVES"
21
east, another pile of stones and many other recent piles of dirt were visible.
These were clearly associated with clearing and maintaining the road. The mixture of different colored soils in the piles was from the A horizon (gray) and B
horizon (yellow)being scraped together. The stone piles had stones of small to
mediumsize, were about the same area at the base, but were higher than the
"graves" we had just investigated.
Our attention was diverted to a small stream draining the wetlands about
70 m east of the "graves". This proved to contain the last pieces to the
puzzle. The bed of the stream had the full variety of small-sized rocks seen in
the piles, including the water-polished ones and those with quartz inclusions.
These AREindigenous. They did not have to be brought in to be placed in the
piles. Although they were not seen in the small test pits done near the excavated stone piles, they were here and may well have been closer had we looked
farther.
THE DAM
After walking up the stream bed picking up these rocks, I looked up and
came face-to-face with the remnants of an old dam. This is the reason for the
stone piles and confirms the amount of effort the people of the day were
expending for their fields and animals. This structure was sited in the optimal
location for holding back the greatest amount of water with the least effort
expended for manufacturing the dam. The 5 m wide constriction was filled primarily with stones not moveable by one person. The largest stones were still
smaller than the ones seen bordering the open field, but approached the size of
the ones in the "graves".
A dam at this location could not have provided sufficient head for water
power. Its sole function had to be to provide a year-round water supply.
Although this is a wetlands and probably has been one for the recent past (a
couple hundred years at least), there is not enough water for a steady flow.
Dammingwould have guaranteed water during the summerand early fall. Late fall
and spring would have been wet enough for crops and animals. The pool which
would have been created by this dammingcan be most easily seen in the field,
since the contour interval of the maps is greater than 5 feet, but the wetlands
boundary is an acceptable approximationfor the followingarguments. Tracing the
boundary of the pool from this dam, one sees that the "graves" are on its
immediate periphery. This is the same pattern as all of the stone lines and
piles known to be obviously from land clearing: the stack is right at the edge
on the usable land. There is no need to clear these sized stones to form a
pond, but there is to make an arable field. But there is no reason to drop them
into the pond either, especially since this is a very shallow one needed to
guarantee year-round water.
Because the dam was a very low technology endeavor, there is no reason to
think that the land clearing technology was any higher: either leave the big
stones or stack upon the ones that cannot be moved by a man and his horse.
Making a lot of piles means moving each stone only the minimaldistance necessary to get it out of the way.
CONCLUSION
Given all of the lines of evidence, there can be no conclusion other than
that these "graves" are actually recent piles of stones from land clearing.
There is no evidence for any cultural activity within the piles or that they
were used for anything after they were stacked: no artifacts, no bones, no char-
22
AROHAEOLOGICAL
SOOIETY
OF OONNEOTICUT,
BULLETIN
50
coal, and no burning.
What made these piles different from those known to be
from land clearing is that there was no immediately observable reason for
clearing here. The evidence for a past reason is the dam.
Editor's Note:
The result of this study -- a few piles of stones in Granby are not Indian
graves -- is not significant, but I think the process that led to that conclusion is. A day of archaeology and some logical deduction can quash years of
uninformed speculation. Less significant, but more surprising to me, is that an
account of this process should be rejected for publication in another journal as
being too provincial, obvious, and not scholarly.
THE PREHISTORICCERAMICSOF SOUTHWESTERN
CONNECTICUT:
AN OVERVIEW
ANDREEVALUATION
ERNESTA. WIEGANDII
NORWALK
COMMUNITY
COLLEGE
ABSTRACT
The study of prehistoric cer-amtcsin southwestern Connecticut has advanced
little in the past 30 years. This paper synthesizes published and unpublished
data from the area and compares recent work to the seminal studies of the 1940s
and 1950s. Although the basic ceramic sequence developed by Smith and Rouse for
the region is still valid, the results of this survey indicate that ceramic
attributes
and types for this area can be more var-table than initially
described.
Attribute variability within individual vessels is discussed and
brings into question the accuracy of analytic assumptions and methods as currently employed.
INTRODUCTION
The work of Smith (1947, 1950)and Rouse (1947) has provided the basis for
ceramic descl"iption and classification in the Long Island Sound area for close
to 40 years. The recognition of three ceramic traditions and their attendant
phases (first referred to as aspects and foci, respectively, by Smith, who used
the McKernMidwestern TaxonomicSystem) in the area has been instrumental in the
formulation and interpretation of the regional cultural-historical
sequence.
Twoof these traditions, Windsor and East River, are present within southwestern
Connecticut. The third (Shantok) is limited to the southeastern corner of the
state.
Smith's cultural sequence, based largely upon ceramic studies, begins with
the Windsor tradition, which was present from the lower Hudson River Valley to
eastern Long Island and southeastern Connecticut throughout the Early and Middle
Woodlandper-iods, Smith (1947) recognized four phases: North Beach, Clearview,
Sebonac, and Niantic. The entry of the East River tradition into the western
portion of this area in eady Late Woodland times was thought by Smith
(1950:156)to represent the invasion of the area by peoples to the west, who
subsequently replaced the indigenous populations. This view was challenged by
Suggs (1957), who claimed that the East River ceramic tradition was a product of
the diffusion of ceramic traits fl"Omthe north via the Hudson River to the
coastal ar-ea and northern New Jersey, where they were adopted by the local
inhabitants.
More recently, Salwen (1968) has proposed, on the basis of the
presence of ceramic traits of both the Windsor and East River traditions on
individual aher-ds and vessels from the Muskeeta Cove II site on the north shore
of western Long Island, that diffusion and possibly some limited population
movementsare behind the appearance of the East River tradition, which is represented by the BowmansBrook and Clasons Point phases in southwestern Connecticut
and southeastern New York. Snow (1980:330) cites evidence supporting the
gradual movementof prehistoric Munsees into the ar-eawhere the "indigenous population was absorbed rather than replaced by the dominant immigrant communities".
This view is
supported
by the
linguistic
as
well as
23
24
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT,
BULLETIN
50
N
t
co
1>
C
£
c
(')
II
'"
;;:
'"m
sc
I ATHENA
2 MEAD'S POINT I
;3 INDIAN FIELD
4 MIANUS GORGE
5 DUNDEE
6 MANAKAWAY
7 HUNTING RIDGE
8 HIGHLAND
9 TUTHILL
10 SPRUCE SWAMP
II PERKIN ELMER
o
5
o
FIGURE 1. Study area.
5
10M
10KM
12 BITTER
1.3 SPLI T .ROCK
14 INDIAN ROCK HOUSE
15 INDIAN RIVER
PREIDSTORIC
CERAMICS
OVERVIEW 25
archaeological evidence (Salwen 1978; Lavin and Morse 1985; Goddard 1978a,
1978b).
In recent years the ceramic sequence for Connecticut and adjacent portions
of New York has undergone reexamination in the light of new evidence. New
ceramic types have been described, phase/stage changes and additions have been
proposed, and chronological revisions have been made (Lavin 1980, 1984, 1985,
Lavin and Salwen 1983,McBride1984,Salwen and Otteson 1972).
Since the work of Suggs (1957,1958)and Powell (1958)at the Manakawayand
Indian Field sites in Greenwich, Connecticut, little work has been done concerning the ceramics of southwestern Fairfield County. This paper synthesizes
both published and unpublished data for the area and compares these to the
framework developed by Smith (1947, 1950) and Rouse (1947). Special attention
is given to those materials which have radiocarbon dated associations and/or
possessing good contextual data, which unfortunately constitute but a fraction
of the ceramics recovered from the area.
EARLYWOODLAND
ATHENA
SITE
The earliest reported ceramics for the area are from this site in nearby
Pound Ridge, NewYork (Figure 1). Here was found the basal section of a thick
(10 - 13mm)grit-tempered vessel with a smoothed-over cord-marked exterior and a
smooth interior with depressions made as a result of modeling the clay using the
pinch pot technique. Although the refitted sherds form only a small section, it
appears that the base was conoidal. Most of the sherds were found in association with Feature 8, a rectangular hearth from which charred wood was radiocarbon dated to 3040 ±200 1<Cyears B.P., 1090 B.C., (GX-3438)(Wiegand 1978).
The early date for this vessel places it within the temporal range of the Orient
phase of late Terminal Archaic and early Early Woodland times (Ritchie 1980).
As only Vinette 1 vessels (typified by cord-marked interior and exterior surfaces) have been reported for this phase (Ritchie 1980), it is premature to suggest that this specimen represents a new type. As several body sherds with
interior and exterior cord-marked surfaces were also recovered from the site, it
is possible that this example represents a variant of the type or the base of
another interior cord-marked vessel. The absence of interior cord-marking on
this specimen is neither surprising nor unexpected given the difficulty involved
in the application of such a technique to the very base of all but the most
conical of bottoms.
INDIANRIVERSITE
The association of interior/exterior
cord-marked ceramics at several
shell-filled refuse pits at the Indian River site in Westport, Connecticut, has
provided the earliest firmly dated instances of this attribute combination in
the study area. Three conjoining body sherds and a single rim sherd with a
slightly everted and rounded lip (Figure 2) were found immediately adjacent to
Feature 9, which was radiocarbon dated to 2420 ±140 14Cyears B.P., 470 B.C.,
(GX-5096). All are grit-tempered and are believed to represent a single Vinette
I vessel. They differ slightly from the type description in that the interior
cord-marking on the rim sherd is oriented obliquely. Five conjoining body
sherds with cord-marked interior and exterior surfaces were found in Feature 6,
which was close to Feature 9, and a similar sherd was found in the area between
them.
26
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT, BULLETIN
50
FIGURE2. Vinette I pottery from the Indian River site: 1. Rim sherd (profile
depiction for all figures shows the exterior surface on the right);
2. Bodysherds.
Several cord-marked interior/exterior sherds were found in Feature 8, which
was dated to 2085 ±135 "c years B.P., 135 B.C., (GX-7298). They differ from
the earlier sherds in that the exterior cord-marking has been somewhat smoothed
over. As no rim sherds were found, it is not possible to assign a type designation to them, as several varieties of interior cord-marked ceramics have been
reported in the region (Lopez 1957, Salwen 1968).
The presence of Vinette I and other untyped interior/exterior cord-marked
sherds at the Indian River site are interpreted as indicative of a North Beach
component. The lack of other types assignable to this phase by Smith (1950)may
be due to the small sample size, which was a result of the site being stripped
by bulldozers, which exposed features, but also removed living floors.
Elsewhere in the study area, small amounts of Vinette I pottery have been
found at the Manakawayand Indian Field sites in Greenwich (Suggs 1958a and
Powell 1958).
MIDDLE
WOODLAND
Ceramics which have been radiocarbon dated to the Middle Woodlandperiod
have been found at two coastal sites in the study area: Tuthill in Norwalk and
Mead's Point I in Greenwich.
PREHISTORIC
CERAMICS
OVERVIEW27
TUTHILLSITE
Here a shell midden which had been partially disturbed through plowing
overlaid an earlier component known from a thin scatter of artifacts and several
features. Feature ,3, a refuse pit, contained shell and bone as well as sherds
from two dentate-stamped, grit-tempered vessels. Additional conjoining sherds
from these vessels were found in the immediate vicinity of the feature, which
was radiocarbon dated to 1830 ±140 14Cyears B.P., 120 A.D., (GX-8349). One
vessel has several large rim sherds and is characterized by straight walls and a
rounded lip which is dentate-stamped perpendicular to the vessel walls. A band
of complexdentate-stamping .25mmwide encircles the rim immediatelybelow the
lip (Figure 3:1). The exterior surface treatment is smoothed-over cord-marking,
which also appears on the lower portion of the interior surface. The upper
portion of the interior surface is brushed or channeled with a ribbed mussel
shell (Figure 3:2). Although the decorative technique is similar, if not identical to that described for Vinette ComplexDentate (Ritchie and MacNeish1949),
it differs from the type description in both rim form and design motif.
Rim sherds were not recovered from the other dentate-stamped vessel,
although several near-rim fragments have been recovered and fitted to a number
of body sherds to form a vessel with a conoidal base and straight walls. The
decorative technique and motif are the same as for the previously described
vessel, although the lip shape and decorative treatment, if any, are unknown
(Figure 4:1-2). It is also similar in that the exterior surface treatment is
that of smoothed-over cord-marking. The lower portion of the exterior surface
has the cord-markings oriented horizontally; above this point they are vertical
(Figure 5:1). On the interior the lower portion is brushed or channeled with a
ribbed mussel shell, while the upper portion has horizontally oriented
cord-marking (Figure 5:2). Evidence that this vessel was made by coil construction can be seen where the upper and lower portions separated along a
poorly welded coil, which has regularly spaced finger impressions along the
interior surface. The presence of differential interior and exterior surface
treatments on the upper and lower fragments point to the probability that the
lower portion had been allowed to dry somewhat before additional coils were
added to the vessel. Although there is some slight overlap of both the interior
and exterior surface treatments in the area between the upper and lower
portions, which is indicative of rewetting the clay prior to the addition of
more coils, this may not have been done sufficiently to ensure proper joining of
the coils.
These two vessels compare closely with some of the "decorated interior
cord-marked" types described by Lopez (1957, 1958)for several coastal NewYork
sites. Shared attributes include dentate-stamping with some "dragging and overlapping" (1958:5),cord-marked exterior, and smoothed-over and/or modified (by
brushing or channeling with a shell) interior surfaces.
A vessel fragment consisting of three conjoining decorated sherds with similar complexdentate-stamping, resembling rocker stamping, was found in the same
area. It has smooth interior and exterior surfaces and grit-temper. Due to its
small size, the range and variation of surface treatment, if any, is not known,
nor is the shape and complete decorative motif of this vessel.
Two other interior/exterior cord-marked vessels are known from the area
immediatelyunder the midden near Feature 3. Both are grit-tempered. One has a
conoidal base, straight walls, and a slightly everted lip, which is somewhat
flattened and is decorated with notches oriented perpendicular to the vessel
walls (Figure 6). The exterior cord-marking is oriented both vertically and
obliquely and is crossed over in places. The lower interior portion of the
vessel has been brushed or channeled with a ribbed mussel shell while the upper
area is heavily cord-marked in some places, but almost completely smoothed-over
28
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT, BULLETIN
50
FIGURE3. Rimsherds with dentate stamped decoration from the Tuthill site.
1. Exterior; 2.
Interior.
FIGURE4. Interior-Exterior cord-marked sherds from the Tuthill site. 1, 2.
Near rim sherds with dentate stamping; 3. Exterior; 4. Interior
PREHISTORIC CERAMICS OVERVIEW
1
......!I:~
..
m
I
'tl
8
.S..
Q)
..
;;;
0
........
Q) ....
..
Q)
..........=
0'"
..,
Q)
.
....I'IN
29
30
AROHAEOLOGICAL SOOIETY OF OONNEOTICUT, BULLETIN
50
FIGURE6. ModifiedInterior Cord-marked vessel from the Tuthill site.
in others. This specimen is tentatively typed as Modified Interior Cord-marked
pottery reported from coastal New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut (Lopez
1957).
The remaining vessel is known from a number of conjoining sherds, some of
which form a large rim fragment. The interior and exterior surfaces are
cord-marked, and the lip is rounded and decorated with thin notches perpendicular to the vessel walls (Figure 4:3-4). These may have been made with a
thin-edged shell or fingernail. Although the vessel form is not completely
known, the upper walls slope markedly inward to the mouth of the vessel.
The rocker dentate-stamped, Modified Interior Cord-marked and untyped
interior-exterior cord-marked vessels are thought to be contemporary with those
dentate-stamped vessels from Feature 3 and its immediatesurroundings. A sample
of shell from the base of the midden that overlays these vessels yielded a radiocarbon date of 1540±125"C years B.P., 410 A. D., (GX-7884),providing a
terminus ante quem for the sherds.
The ceramic assemblage from the basal component of the Tuthill site provides confirmation of Lopez's suggestion that "Modifiedand Decorated varieties
(of interior cord-marked ceramics) are probably later than components yielding
just Complete Interior Cord-marked pottery" (1957:239). Lopez (1957:239)further predicted the eventual subdivision of the North Beach phase into earlier
PREHISTORIC
CERAMICS
OVERVIEW 31
01234567
~~
2
o
....
~~
1
2
3
3
FIGURE7. Rimand body sherds from the Highland site.
and later subdivisions based upon the temporal sequence of such ceramic attributes, which Lavin (1985) has realized in her proposed "Fastener Stage", based
upon the analysis of ceramics from the Tuthill site and the Fastener site in
Shelton, Connecticut. At the latter site Lavin (1984, 1985, Lavin and Salwen
1983)found that cord-marked interior surfaces and cord-wrapped-stick decoration
were more frequent in the earlier of two components of this stege, while
dentate-stamping and smooth interior and exterior surfaces occurred in greater
amounts in the later component. If such a temporal distribution of attribute
frequencies may be directly compared with the Tuthill materials, it would appear
that the earlier Tuthill component dates to the latter portion of the stage.
Despite the coastal location of the site, grit-tempering predominates over
shell when measured by both sherd quantities and sherd lots, although
shell-tempering is certainly more frequent than at the Fastener site, where
shell temper was found in but a single sherd. The later Middle Woodland
ceramics at the Tuthill site are associated with the shell midden. The recovery
of a single, small, grit-tempered sherd with cord-wrapped-stick decoration
applied to a smooth exterior surface from the upper area of the shell midden
(which lay within the plowzone) overlying the earlier materials is suggestive of
a later date for this attribute.
From the edge of the midden, 9m west of the
area containing the previously described materials, were found two decorated
sherds. One is a small grit~tempered rim sherd with cord-wrapped-stick decoration both on the lip and its smooth exterior surface. The other has punctate
decoration and smooth interior and exterior surfaces; cavities in the paste suggest that shell-tempered had been used, but was leached. Shell from the same
level was radiocarbon dated to 990 ±120 14Cyears B.P., 960 A. D., (GX-8722).
This is the earliest date for these decorative techniques in the study area.
32
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT, BULLETIN
50
MEAD'S
POINTI SITE
At this site in Greenwich,a small number of undecorated body sherds, many
of which were eroded, were found in the basal component. Someof the non-eroded
sherds had cord-marked exteriors and wiped interiors; wiping also was present on
the interiors or exteriors of some of the eroded sherds for which only one surface treatment could be determined. Shell-tempering is more prevalent than
grit-tempering when measured both by the number of sherd lots and the actual
sherd count (Kirkorian and Dickinson 1985). Feature 2, a shell filled refuse
pit originating in the basal cultural layer, was radiocarbon dated to 1280 ±105
14Cyears B.P., 670 A.D., (GX-4573).
LATEWOODLAND
The majority of Late Woodlandcomponents in the study area are characterized by the presence of ceramic types assignable to the East River tradition.
Eleven sites have East River components, while Windsorcomponents are present at
three sites.
The cultural affiliation(s) of several other sites cannot be
determined with confidence.
IDGHLAND
SITE
The earliest radiocarbon dated Late Woodlandceramics in the study area are
from two refuse pits at this site in Norwalk. Associated with Feature 1 were
several dozen sherds from a grit-tempered vessel with a smooth interior surface
and a cord-marked exterior. Horizontal rows of cord-wrapped-stick impressions
encircle a constricted neck and the lower portion of the everted rim (Figure
7:2-3). Above this and just below the lip is a horizontal herringbone motif
(Figure 7:1). The lip is flattened and impressed with a single band of
cord-wrapped-stick impressions oriented perallel to the vessel walls. The
vessel shares many attributes with the Van Cortlandt Stamped type, but is similar to BowmansBrook Stamped in that it has a decorated lip and everted rim.
This specimen may be an early version of Van Cortlandt Stamped. Although the
type description states that Van Cortlandt Stamped vessels are collared, Smith
(1950:Plate 8:9) illustrates an uncollared example. Shell from the feature was
radiocarbon dated at 730 ±115 14Cyears B.P., 1220 A. D., (GX-5544).
Associated with Feature 2 was a single grit-tempered rim sherd with smooth
interior and exterior surfaces and three horizontal rows of oval dentate-stamped
impressions just below the lip, which is notched along its interior edge in such
a manner as to create a pie crust effect (Figure 7:4). Five conjoining
grit-tempered body sherds with cord-marked exteriors and smooth interiors were
found as well and may be from the same vessel. Shell from Feature 2 was radiocarbon dated at 835 ±120 14Cyears B.P., 1115 A.D., (GX-5095).
MANAKAWAY
SITE
This site on Greenwich Point contained a single vessel of each of the following East River types: East River Cord-Marked, Van Cortlandt Stamped, and
BowmansBrook Incised. In addition two untyped dentate-stamped vessels (one
with a curvilinear design motif) were found, as was a miniature vessel similar
in form and surface treatment to a Van Cortlandt Stamped vessel, but lacking
decoration. Fabric-impressed, stippled, and plain sherds were also found and
assigned to the East River tradition on the basis of paste characteristics
PREHISTORIC
CERAMICS
OVERVIEW 33
FIGURE8. Scallop-shell stamped sherds from the Mead's Point 1 site.
FIGURE9. Incised vessel with incipient castellations
site.
from the Mead's Point 1
34
AROHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF OONNEOTICUT, BULLETIN
50
(Suggs 1958a). All vessels were grit-tempered with the exception of some of the
plain sherds. Vinette Interior Cord-Marked and ModifiedVinette were assigned
to the Windsor tradition by Suggs, who nevertheless feels that the site was a
single component of the Bowmans Brook phase of the East River tradition.
Smith's contention (1950, 1957) that the presence of both traditions at the
Manakaway site is due to its location near the boundary between the two is
rejected by Suggs (1957, 1958a, 1958b), who favors a diffusion of ceramic traits
southward from the upper Hudson River Valley region to account for the origins
of the East River tradition rather than Smith's invasion/replacement model.
Suggs felt that radiocarbon dates from Hearth 1 (which lay under the midden and
was dated to 650 ±10014Cyears B.P., 1300A.D.,(L339A)and a shell sample from
the middle of the midden (dated to 610 ±100 14Cyears B.P., 1340 A.D., (L339B»
provide support for Smith's belief that Vinette I may have continued through
time. This prompted Suggs (1958b) to suggest that Vinette I and other interior
cord-marked ceramics do not provide a useable horizon marker for the coastal
ares.
However, despite Suggs's interpretation of the Manakawaysite as a single
component occupation of the Bowmans Brook phase, his discussion of site
stratigraphy and artifact distribution point to factors that indicate that a
strong possibility exists for an earlier occupation. Specifically, this possibility is supported by the presence of several shell heaps buried by the midden
(Suggs 1958a:27),and the vertical distribution of Windsor and East River sherds
in unit N30/E50(1958:Table3). A large pit (Pit #1) under the midden contained
crude and fine dentate-stamped sherds and East River Cord-marked pottery. The
dentate-stamped sherds were classed as a variety of BowmanaBrook Stamped by
Suggs despite the fact that this type is not dentate-stamped. Suggs reports
that these sherds are virtually identical to untyped sherds from the Sebonac
site on eastern Long Island which Smith (1950:180-181)suggested may be of the
Sebonac focus (phase) of the Windsor tradition. Given the difficulties inherent
in the analysis of shell middens (Brennan 1977, Sanger 1981), it is suggested
that an earlier Windsor component exists at this site.
MEAD'SPOINTI SITE
Elsewhere in the Greenwich area, the upper levels of the Mead's Point I
site produced a sample of several hundred sherds of Late Woodlandage (Wiegand
1976). Although few were decorated, three rim sherds (one of which is castellated) and an upper neck/lower collar fragment have attributes of both the
Windsor and East River traditions (Figure 8:1-4). The interiors are scallop
shell channeled, and the exterior surfaces are smoothed by scallop shell channeling (Figure 8:2-4) and smoothed over cord-marking (Figure 8:1) surface treatments. Decoration consists of diagonal as well as nearly horizontal and vertical scallop shell stamping; unfortunately, the small size of the sherds precludes determination of the motif. Two of the rim sherds have flattened lips
(Figure 8:2-3) and were found in the same area as the neck/collar fragment. The
castellated rim sherd has a rounded lip (Figure 8:1). In surface treatment and
decorative technique, these sherds exhibit attributes of the Sebonac Stamped
type of the Windsor tradition. The paste is compact, well consolidated, and
tempered with finely crushed shell. Collars are not present on Sebonac Stamped
vessels, but are known for both the Niantic Stamped and Clasons Point Stamped
types of the Windsor and East River traditions, respectively (Smith 1950). A
neck/collar sherd of Clasons Point Stamped (Figure 8:5) and a single rim sherd
of East River Cord-Marked were also recovered, as were small sherds bearing
incised and cord-wrapped-stick-impressed decoration. The interiors are scallop
shell channeled.
PREHISTORIC
CERAMICS
OVERVIEW 35
A large number of sherds from a single vessel were found in a concentration
near the base of the upper level of the shell midden. The vessel has a rounded
bottom and globular body with incipient castellations above a nearly vertical
rim (Figure 9). The decorative technique consists of broad, shallow incisions
made in a stab and drag manner. These are arranged into a motif consisting of
two horizontal bands of three lines each, one of which is just below the lip.
The other is on the shoulder and is connected to the upper band through a series
of diagonal bands made in the same manner with open areas left between. The
horizontal and vertical bands are not continuous, but are formed by a series of
short incisions with small separations between them. The regularity of the
spacing of the three lines indicates that a three pronged instrument was used.
The lip is fIat and has stamped decorations that may have been made with the
edge or bottom of the instrument. Surface treatment varies on both surfaces.
The exterior is smoothed in the upper areas where the decoration has been
applied, and cord-marked in various degrees from extremely distinct to
smoothed-over to almost obliterated. The interior surfaces are smoothed from
the neck to the base, and wiped or brushed on the upper portion. The vessel
shares some similarities with the Eastern Incised pottery of the East River tradition, particularly in regard to paste, exterior surface treatment, and the
form of the lower portion of the vessel. However, the decorative motif, lack of
a collar, incipient castellations, and diversity of interior surface treatments
differ significantly from the type description. Hence, it is considered to be
an untyped vessel of the East River tradition. A sample of shell lying immediately under, but in contact with, the sherd concentration was dated to 620 ±105
14Cyears B.P., 1330 A.D., (GX-4572). This places the site in close temporal
proximity to the Manakawaysite.
INDIANFIELDSITE
This site reported by Powell (1958) is several hundred meters north of the
Mead's Point I site. This site has not been radiocarbon dated, but contains
ceramics assignable to both the BowmansBrook and Clasons Point phases of the
East River tradition: East River Cord-Marked, Bowmans Brook Stamped, Van
Cortlandt Stamped, and Eastern Incised. Other untyped specimens, some of which
are of the Windsor tradition, were found, as was a single sherd of Vinette I
pottery.
Excavations by the Archaeological Associates of Greenwich (then the
Greenwich Archaeological Society) conducted at this site in May, 1975, resulted
in the recovery of most of a grit-tempered vessel with cord-marked exterior and
smooth interior surfaces (Figure 10). The body is elongate-globular with a
conoidal base and a moderately constricted neck. An incipient collar is topped
by six low castellations; allowing for missing portions of the rim, there were
probably eight castellations originally. This vessel was examined under field
conditions by Powell,who compared it to the Van Cortlandt Stamped sherds found
during this prior investigations at the site (Powell 1958, 1975).
SPRUCESWAMP
SITE
At this site in Norwalk, Powell (1965a) reported both Windsor and East
River ceramics within a large shell midden, but could not elaborate on their
specific provenience(s). Recognized types included Windsor Brushed, Windsor
Fabric-Marked, BowmansBrookStamped, and VanCortlandt Stamped. Stratigraphic
excavations of the site conducted in 1975 by the Southwestern Connecticut
ArchaeologicalCommunityrevealed the presence of Sebonac Stamped (Figure 11:1)
36
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT, BULLETIN
FIGURE 10. Van Courtlandt
Stamped vessel
from the Indian
50
Field site.
eM
IN
FIGURE 11. Sherds from the Spruce Swamp site.
2. Corrugated body sherds.
1. Sebonac Stamped rim sherd;
PREHISTORIC
CERAMICS
OVERVIEW 37
and WindsorCord-Marked, both in the lower portion of the midden. A radiocarbon
date of 745 "c years B.P. was reported for a preserved post originating in the
upper portion of the midden (Anonymous1977).
Two grit-tempered vessels, each known by a single sherd, exhibit smooth
interiors and exterior surfaces that consist of raised parallel bands which produce a corrugated effect (Figure 11:2-3). The technique used to produce such a
design may have involved dragging a flat instrument along the vessels' outer
coil surfaces at an acute angle. Experimentation using this technique reproduced a surface identical to the sherds, including the overlapping of the outer
coil edges, which resemble clapboards in cross-section. However, as the same
results were obtained on a smoothed surface, coiled construction is clearly not
a prerequisite in producing a corrugated surface.
One of the sherds (Figure 11:2) has been further modified by stamping the
raised bands with a triangular object at regular intervals.
The impressions
thus made resemble fingerprints, but are more likely to have been left by some
other object, perhaps the end-grain of a wooden stamp or paddle edge, as
attempts to replicate the pattern using fingers was unsuccessful.
As both
sherds were found on the eroded midden face, their cultural affiliations remain
unknown, although it is probable that they date to Late Woodlandtimes, as the
paste is very compact and well-consolidated. The corrugated surface treatment
is, to the best of the author's knowledge, unknown for the region.
The Spruce Swampsite is not alone in having Late Woodlandceramics assignable to the Sebonac phase of the Windsor tradition and the BowmansBrook and/or
Clasons Point phases of the East River tradition. This situation pertains to
two rockshelters along the Norwalk River to the north in the town of Wilton:
Perkin-Elmer and Split Rock Shelter.
PERKIN-ELMER
ROCKSHELTER
Reexaminationof the ceramic assemblage from this rockshelter has led to
the recognition of a single grit-tempered rim sherd previously identified as
Clearview Stamped (Wiegand 1983), which is now considered highly similar to
Bowmans Brook Stamped. A single band of diagonal, cord-wrapped-stick
impressions is
present
immediately below the
flat,
thickened,
and
cord-wrapped-stick impression covered lip. Below this are horizontal bands of
impressions. On the upper inside of the rim, a single band of short, diagonal
impressions is present. On the basis of paste, form, decorative technique, and
motif, the vessel appears to be a variant of BowmansBrook Stamped, differing
mainly from the type description by presence of a thickened lip.
Other ceramics from the site include Windsor Cord-Marked, which differs
somewhat from its type description in having smooth, rather than brushed,
interiors, which is an attribute of East River Cord-Marked. A large rim section
of an undecorated, grit-tempered vessel with a smooth interior, originally
reported as having a smoothed-over cord-marked surface (Wiegand1983)actually
has a fabric-marked exterior. Given these traits, an inward sloping rim, and a
rounded lip, it is typed as Windsor Fabric-Marked. Vinette Interior Cord-Marked
sherds and several untyped dentate-stamped sherds bearing some resemblance to
Clearview Stamped were also recovered. As with the Spruce Swampassemblage,
most of the ceramics were surface finds from the eroded edge of the site.
SPLIT ROCKSHELTER
In this rockshelter were found portions of several shell-tempered vessels
resembling Sebonac Stamped, East River Cord-Marked, Eastern Incised, and Windsor
38
AROHAEOLOGICAL SOOIETY OFOONNEOTICUT, BULLETIN
50
Brushed types. The small ssmple size, lack of large sherds, and the weathered
condition of most of the sherds precluded positive identifications.
ADDITIONAL
SITES
Smallamounts of identifiable Late Woodlandceramics have been recovered at
other sites in the area. Powell (1981:45) reports a single rim-and-shoulder
sherd from the Indian Rock House in Wiltonas "showing affinity with the type
Clasons Point Stamped." At the Hunting Ridge Rockshelter in Stamford he recovered 66 sherds of a single vessel of the Van Cortlandt Stamped type (Powell
1959). Fiedel (1985)reports a single decorated sherd of BowmansBrook Incised
from the Dundee Rockshelter in Greenwich. At the Mianus Gorge Rockshelter in
Stamford Powell (1963) found 150 sherds from at least two vessels. Six rim or
near-rim sherds had cord-wrapped-stick stamping, which he interpreted as possibly attributable to the East River tradition. Body sherds having wiped or
plain and cord-marked exteriors were found. Although Powell suggested that the
cord-marked sherds may have been associated with a Windsortradition occupation,
this is difficult to determine on the basis of the data at hand, and it is possible that these may have been body sherds from the decorated vessel.
A large ceramic sample was recovered from the Bitter Rock Shelter in
Norwalk. Powell (1965b) reports a single identifiable rim sherd as being of the
BowmansBrookStampedtype. Asecond BowmansBrookStampedvessel from the site
was later brought to his attention by a local collector (personal communication
1981). Powell's description of other sherds is suggestive of other Late
Woodlandtypes, and a reexamination of the site by Wiegand (1983) resulted in
the recovery of a rim sherd of the BowmansBrook Incised type.
A large number of sherds from a single Windsor Cord-marked vessel were
recovered from a probable pit feature at the Indian River site in Westport. The
feature was largely destroyed by construction, although enough sherds were
recovered to complete a rim-to-base profile of the vessel.
SUMMARY
ANDCONCLUSIONS
Examination of ceramics from southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut,
sites has demonstrated that although the basic ceramic sequence as developed by
Smith (1947, 1950) and Rouse (1947) for the region is still applicable, some
changes and additions both to type descriptions and attributes are in order.
The recovery of several varieties of interior cord-marked pottery from the
Tuthill site provides further elaboration of three of the four broad classes of
interior cord-marked ceramics reported by Lopez (1957, 1958). Vinette I (also
known as Complete Interior Cord-marked) pottery has been shown to have
lip-notched decoration and both ribbed mussel shell channeling or brushing combined with cord-marked interior surface treatment, some of which has been
smoothed over, during the early Middle Woodland period. Such a variety of
interior surface treatments applied to the same vessel is also present for two
vessels with complex dentate-stamping. Furthermore, the exterior surfaces of
both the dentate-stamped vessels and the Vinette I vessel have different degrees
of exterior cord-marking on the same vessel. These range from areas with very
distinct impressions to those which have been considerably smoothed over. As
many ceramic analyses in the region make use of the assumption that surface
treatments are mutually exclusive and can thus be used to sort an assemblage
into a minimalvessel count, the observation that as many as four or five separate sherd groupings can be made from a single vessel's body sherds is an
unpleasant reality that must be addressed in ceramic analysis based upon such
PREHISTORIC
CERAMICS
OVERVIEW 39
sorting techniques (Salwen 1968; Dincauze 1975; Lavin 1980, 1986; Wiegand
1983). In light of this, surface treatment used in type descriptions should be
left open to change when the analysis has been based upon the study of small
vessel fragments and non-contiguous sherds.
The recovery of an interior and exterior cord-marked vessel with lip
notching and an insloping rim at the Tuthill site may represent yet another
variety of interior cord-marked pottery, although the form of the lower portion
of the vessel is not known. The presence of corrugated surface treatment on
sherds from two vessels at the Spruce Swampsite represents the only occurrence
of this attribute in the region.
As many of the ceramics from the study area differ to various degrees from
early type descriptions, the redefinition of some types to include minor variations in attributes may be in order. With this it may be possible to study not
only the range of variation within a type, but, more importantly, to determine
the factors governing the selection of various attributes.
A good place to
start in such an investigation may be with the attributes of paste characteristics, temper, and surface treatment. Variation in the occurrence of such
attributes may reflect the availability of raw materials on a local or regional
level, shifts in settlement location, or preferences expressed on a number of
possible levels (individual, familial, communal, or societal).
For example,
Robertson (1984) reports intrasite differences in temper, surface treatment, and
decorative motif for Incinerator site. These differences were a primary consideration in the delineation of proposed matrilocal residential zoneS within this
Fort Ancient village site in Ohio.
Attribute analysis may prove useful in the study of other problems. For
example, the study of the use of shells for both temper and as tools to apply
surface treatment and decoration may prove helpful in the delineation of areas
exploited by coastal groups as reflected by the distribution of ceramics evidencing such use. It would be interesting to compare such distributions to historically documented boundaries to see if such a correspondence exists.
Once an understanding of the role played by attributes directly affected by
resource availability is obtained, it may be possible to determine with a
greater degree of objectivity the significance of other attributes such as
shape, decorative motif, and decorative technique. For example, type descriptions for both East River Cord-Marked and Windsor Cord-Marked are almost identical in terms of form, exterior surface treatment, and temper, but they differ
in that the former has poorly consolidated, laminated paste.
If such a
distinguishing factor can be demonstrated as resulting from differences in raw
materials available to each group, the only remaining difference is the occasional presence of lip notching on Windsor Cord-Marked. That even this difference may be minor or even inconsequential is suggested from Smith's (1950)
reporting of the presence of East River Cord-Markedsherds on Sebonac components
of the Windsor tradition and the presence of Windsor Cord-Marked sherds on
Clasons Point components of the East River tradition. Although he attributes
such a distribution to trade, the possibility that these two types are in
reality one would provide a useful test case of the above discussed approach.
The distribution of ceramic attributes and types of both the East River and
Windsor traditions within the study area during the Late Woodlandperiod shows
that the Windsor tradition is most commonlyencountered in the eastern area.
This pattern lends support to the East River - Windsor boundary at some point
between Norwalkand the HousatonicRiver (Salwen 1978,Lavin 1984).
Although the Spruce Swamp,Perkin-Elmer Rockshelter, and Split RockShelter
contain Late Woodlandceramics of both the Windsor and East River traditions,
the lack of large ceramic samples from secure stratigraphic contexts precludes
detailed study of the interaction between peoples of these traditions such as
has been done on Western Long Island (Salwen 1968). Nevertheless, the possi-
40
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETYOF CONNECTICUT,
BULLETIN 50
bility for such analysis is clearly present in the study area.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank Dr. Lucianne Lavin and Dr. Roger Moeller for
reviewing early drafts of this report. The Bruce Museumof Greenwich graciously
allowed access to collections from the Manakawayand Indian Field sites, and Ms.
Louise Robbins of the museum staff provided Figure 10. Thanks are also given to
Don Paulson and Joanna White, who prepared Figures 2 - 7, 9 - 11 and Figure 8,
respectively.
REFERENCES
CITED
Anonymous
1977 Lab work. Southwestern Connecticut Archaeological Community
Communique 2(1):4.
Brennan, Louis
1977 The midden is the message. Archaeology of Eastern North America
5:122-137.
Dincauze, Dena F.
1975 Ceramic sherds from the Charles River Basin. Bulletin of the
Archaeological Society of Connecticut 39:1-17.
Fiedel, Stuart
1985 The Dundee Rockshelter. Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of
Connecticut 48:31-33.
Goddard, Ives
1978a Eastern Algonquian languages. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol
15, edited by B. Trigger, pp. 70-77. Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, D. C.
1978b Delaware. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol 15, edited by B.
Trigger, pp. 213-239. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.
Kirkorian, Cecelia and Nancy Dickinson
1985 An analysis of a southwestern Connecticut prehistoric ceramic sample.
Occasional Publication in Northeastern Anthropology 9 (part 2):27-37.
Lavin, Lucianne
1980 Analysis of ceramic vessels from the Ben Hollister site, Glastonbury,
Connecticut.
43:3-41.
1984 Connecticut prehistory: A synthesis of current archaeological
investigations.
Bulletin of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut
47:5-40.
1985 The Windsor ceramic tradition in Southern NewEngland. Paper
presented at the 25th annual meeting of the Northeastern
Anthropological Association, April 24-27, Lake Placid, New York.
1986 Pottery classification and cultural models in Southern New England
prehistory.
North American Archaeologist 7(1):1-14.
Lavin, Lucianne and Birgit Morse
1985 Ceramicassemblages from the Rye Marshland of Southern NewYork.
Bulletin of the New York State Archaeological Association 91:13-25.
Lavin, Lucianne and Bert Salwen
1983 The Fastener site: A new look at the Archaic - Woodland transition in
the Lower Housatonic Valley. Bulletin of the Archaeological Society
of Connecticut 46:15-43.
PREHISTORICCERAMICSOVERVIEW 41
Lopez, Julius
1957
Interior
cord-marked
Archaeologist
1958
Curvilinear
pottery
from coastal New York.
Pennsylvania
27(1):23-32.
design
elements in the New York coastal area.
Bulletin of
the Archaeological Society of Connecticut 28:3-11.
McBride, Kevin A.
1984
The Prehistory of the Lower Connecticut Valley. Ph.D. dissertation,
Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut.
Powell, Bernard W.
1958
Preliminary report on a southwestern
Connecticut site.
Bulletin of
the Archaeological Society of Connecticut 28:12-29.
1959 A ceramic find at Hunting Ridge. Bulletin of the Massachusetts
Archaeological Society 20(3):42-45.
1963
The Mianus Rockshelter.
Pennsylvania Archaeologist 33(3):42-58.
1965a Spruce Swamp: A partially drowned coastal midden in Connecticut.
American Antiquity 30:460-469.
Rock Shelter: A stratified
Connecticut site
Bulletin of the
Massachusetts Archaeological Society 26(3-4):25-33.
NEAR Special Report No. 4 North East Archaeological Researchers,
1965b Bitter
1975
Inc., Wilton, Connecticut.
Salvage archaeology at Indian Rock House. Bulletin of the
Massachusetts Archaeological Society 42(2):40-49.
Ritchie, William A.
1980 The Archaeology of New York State. Harbor Hill Books, New York.
Ritchie, William A. and Richard S. MacNeish
1949
The Pre-Iroquoian pottery of New York State. American Antiquity
15(2):97-124.
Robertson, James A.
1984
Chipped stone and functional interpretations:
A Fort Ancient example.
Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 9(2):251-267.
Rouse, Irving
1947
Ceramic sequences and traditions in Connecticut.
Bulletin of the
Archaeological Society of Connecticut 21:10-25.
Salwen, Bert
1968
Muskeeta Cove 2: A stratified Woodland site on Long Island.
American
1981
Antiquity
33(3):322-340.
1978
Indians of Southern New England and Long Island: Early period.
Handbook of North American Indians, edited by B. Trigger, pp.
15:160-176. Smithsonian Institution,
Washington D. C.
Salwen, Bert and Ann Otteson
1972
Radiocarbon dates for a Windsor occupation at the Shantock Cove site,
New London County, Connecticut.
Man in the Northeast 3:8-19.
Sanger, David
1981
Unscrambling messages in the midden. Archaeology of Eastern North
America 9:37-42.
Smith, Carlyle S.
1947
An outline of the archaeology of coastal New York. Bulletin of the
Archaeological Society of Connecticut 21:2-9.
1950
The Archaeology of coastal New York. Anthropological Papers, Museum
of Natural History 43 (part 1).
Snow, Dean
1980 The Archaeology of New England. Academic Press, New York.
Suggs, Robert
1957
Coastal New York and Connecticut prehistory reinterpreted.
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Antiquity
22(4):420-422.
42
ARCHAEOLOGICALSOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT,BULLETIN
50
1958a
The Manakaway site, Greenwich, Connecticut.
Bulletin of the
Archaeological Society of Connecticut
29:21-47.
1958b Radiocarbon dates from the Manakaway site, Connecticut.
American
Antiquity
23(4):432-433.
Wiegand, Ernest A.
1976
Operations at Mead's Point are successfully concluded.
Archaeotext
2(2):2-4.
1978
1983
The Athena site.
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Rockshelters
of Southwestern Connecticut: Their Prehistoric Occupation
and Use. Norwalk Community College Press, Norwalk, Connecticut.
THE WOODRUFF
ROCKSHELTERSITE - 6LF126
AN INTERIMREPORT- FAUNALANALYSISAS A MEANS
TO EVALUATE
ENVIRONMENT
ANDCULTURE
EDMUNDK. SWIGART
AMERICANINDIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL
INSTITUTE
ABSTRACT
The Woodruff Rock Shelter, located in New Preston in northwestern
Connecticut, is approximately 100 m south of Lake Waramaug and overlooks the
East Aspetuck River. The importance of the site is twofold: excellent bone and
shell preservation, a highly unusual occurrence on inland southern New England
sites not underlain by limestone-marble deposits, and the fact that the site was
largely undisturbed at the time of excavation.
The purpose of this report is to use the large amount of faunal material
excavated to reconstruct the environment and life of the Woodland period (ca
1000 BC - 1600 AD) peoples who occupied this rockshelter. The following topics
are discussed: faunal resources available; overall environment and various
micro-environments present; seasonality of human occupation; human dietary preferences; possible purpose(s) for human occupation of the site; and human food
processing, cooking preferences, and butchering techniques.
INTRODUCTION
The Woodruff Rock Shelter (6LF126)is approximately 18mlong by 5m wide and
is located in Litchfield County, Connecticut on the New Preston Quadrangle. It
is on the northeast side of Mt. Bushnell approximately 17mabove and west northwest of the East Aspetuck River in the town of New Preston. The site is 100m
south southwest of the southern end of Lake Waramaugand its confluence with the
East Aspetuck River, the outlet for the Lake (Figure 1).
Geologically the hills in the surrounding area are part of the Waramaug
Formation named for Lake Waramaug(Gates and Bradley 1952). They are comprised
of two types of gneiss. The first is coarse and intensely folded and contains
quartz. The second is less coarse and folded with mica and quartzite. Both are
intruded into granite. The valley below is a WoodvilleMarble. The rockshelter
is derived from talus rock plucked and deposited by the most recent Wisconsin
Glacier (John Pawloski, Geologist and science teacher, Schagticoke School, New
Milford, Connecticut, personal communication, 1985). A number of other similar
formations should exist in the area, but so far none have been reported of such
a size. The great majority of smaller ones have already been dug by well
meaning, but untrained, collectors.
Geographically the area is comprised of wooded hills, lowland swamps,
marshy areas, and woods with intermittent meadows. A few ponds and many small
and some large streams, including the East Aspetuck and Shepaug rivers, crisscross the region. In spite of increasingly rapid urbanization the area is still
farmed and rich in floral and faunal evidence of the varied resources available
to prehistoric man. The steep hills towering above the heavily wooded site protect it from wind and storms.
The rock shelter has an east-southeast exposure 17mabove the beginning of a
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44
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT, BULLETIN
42'
FIGURE 1. Location of the Woodruff Rock Shelter
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